Anything Smartphones Can Do, GPS Can Do Better

If your fleet is still stuck in the dark ages of paper maps and manual processes, it’s time for a serious upgrade. Connectivity through GPS fleet management systems makes the lives of heavy vehicle operators, managers and back-office staff vastly easier. Smartphones and navigation apps drove a change toward technology for transport, construction and mining. Yet, with in-vehicle driver tools and telematics systems, your fleet can do way more than just get from point A to B.

Juggling various applications delivered via multiple devices on differing platforms while relying on paper-based workbooks, jobs and schedules is a task in itself. Integrated telematics puts everything in one place. Put simply, a smartphone just doesn’t cut it.

Here are some of the ways fleet management systems help improve your service, increase operational productivity and break those frustrating bottlenecks.

Superior Customer Service within Transport

Tracking and location services lets you know where a driver’s progress is at through a runsheet. If a customer requests an ETA, it’s as simple as looking up the vehicle’s location based on the route and jobs the driver is completing. It’s a way to show your business is dedicated to providing quality service. This especially rings true when considering that Australia is vastly uninhabited, which makes long-haul transport dangerous. Vehicle tracking through satellite connectivity breaks the bounds of communication outside of the mobile network allowing you to locate drivers and vehicles at all times independent of coverage.

More so, an effective fleet management solution helps you dispatch drivers at the right time, provide a proof of delivery and track total time on-site, including any delays. You stay in the loop with your driver’s trips and maximise efficiency to ensure an on-time service for your customers.

Understand Haul Cycles in Construction

When on site, time is money. Every minute that equipment and vehicles are misused or operating out of scope eats into the budget. Understanding the average haul cycle is critical in measuring the productivity of your assets. Pick-up, transporting and drop off time, cycling back, speeding and queuing for a new load are all things that GPS fleet tracking systems can provide metrics on. If a task is taking longer than expected, you are able to pinpoint a reason for the hold up. It all helps towards reducing idle time, unnecessary fuel expenditure and turn-around times for preventative maintenance. As expenditure can skyrocket, without a way to track usage, your money can go to waste on over-servicing and refuelling where it isn’t required. Understanding haul cycles can often be a key requirement for balancing the budget.

Make the Most Out of your Equipment

Asset hoarding can be common, with some companies working multiple sites at once regardless if it’s housing development or construction of skyscrapers or apartment buildings. Foremen may have a hard time figuring out what is and isn’t being used and may be hesitant to move assets to another site. This leads to a pile up of underutilised assets despite not doing any work. Forking out for a range of equipment and footing the bill for its upkeep when its barely in use is a waste. Then comes the ability to track your asset’s locations – missing equipment is a huge expense! By installing telematics onto assets, you are able to set up real-time alerts when they’re used. When a vehicle hasn’t seen much action, it’s easier to justify moving it. Your assets can be worth the investment to do the task required of them. By understanding what happens when, you get a clearer picture into on-site activity and manage your assets more effectively.

Avoid Bottlenecks and Demurrage

Even the most efficient fleet can’t fight traffic congestion. Both short and long-haul freight suffer with traffic bottleneck and lengthy delays. This creates a ripple effect where drivers are left waiting on the side of the road out of fatigue hours, vehicles can require more maintenance, payroll needs processing – all that fuel wasted where the driver is spent idling in peak hour traffic. With GPS systems and tracking solutions, you can better predict routes and schedule drivers in off-peak hours, whilst also taking into account delays. You are able to plan trips that avoid busy roads and account for any additional time taken for the detour. If your fleet is across multiple locations, you can see what truck is closest to the destination and assign jobs accordingly.

GPS fleet systems allow for ease of use among your fleet and stops little problems from getting bigger. It has multiple uses across a range of industries and lets businesses better manage their assets, drivers and spend. Smartphones aren’t a replacement for telematics, as the tools it provides the operation allow for a more streamlined, responsive and profitable business.